incorporated into the second laboratory. Each
BSL- 3 laboratory was built into two standard,
refrigerated shipping containers, yielding a gross
area of 640 sf.

Within each laboratory, the same equipment
required for operating a BSL- 3 laboratory, such
as autoclaves, ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers, laboratory-grade refrigerators and freezers,
were installed. The HVAC design called for
single-pass cooling air that’s exhausted without
recirculation, which accounts for a significant
amount of electrical power. The initial design for
the first laboratory called for 158 k W (Table 1).

Since the majority of the electrical load came
from the HVAC system, the energy-saving
modifications were designed to reduce this
load. A number of strategies were implemented,
each netting a modest savings of 3 to 5%. These
strategies included energy-efficient laboratory
equipment and fluorescent tubes, a modified
air-handler and an increased internal operational temperature set point (72 F to 75 F). In total,
these modifications netted a savings of 25 k W,
bringing the overall consumption to 133 k W.

Realizing the autoclave, refrigerator/freezerand ULT freezer were the major sources of heatadded to the space, engineers modified theequipment installation to remove heat sourcesfrom the laboratory. In doing so, the coolingdemand for the space was reduced from a condi-tion requiring 30 ACH to 12 ACH of single-passair. These modifications netted significantsavings on the electrical load, bringing the totaldemand down to 93 k W (Table 2). The removalof the heat-generating sources netted additionalsavings of 40 k W. The overall reduction to theHVAC energy requirements was 41%.By fabricating and attaching stainless steelpanels to laboratory equipment, creating a bio-seal between the laboratory and surroundingspaces, the heat-generating elements removedfrom the laboratory not only reduced heat load,but increased available laboratory space, allowedfor maintenance to be conducted in non-con-tained spaces further reducing labor time/costand reduced cost associated with personal pro-tective equipment. The initial project placed theentire piece of laboratory equipment and its fullheat load within the laboratory environment.

The estimated cost for the energy-saving strategies added approximately $25,000 in cost to the
project. The energy saved is estimated to reduce
the electrical cost by $8,125/yr, based on an
estimated cost of $0.20/k Wh on the island where
the project is installed. This equates to a ROI in
just over three years. With a facility life span of
20 to 30 years, this not only makes for a sound
financial investment, it might be the difference
in the laboratory remaining operational when
in low resource settings. By taking advantage of
innovative engineering solutions to reduce energy consumption, the modular BSL- 3 laboratory
is a practical way to offer a safe environment to
handle the dangerous pathogens we encounter
today and in the future.